Technology Solution Providers Research Articles

Implementation of Internet of Things in the Production Process of MSMEs: Quality Improvement and Process Control

This research explores the application of IoT in MSME production to enhance quality and process control. The focus is on addressing challenges such as high costs, lack of technical understanding, and data security. The aim is to highlight the benefits of IoT, evaluate implementation challenges, and provide strategic guidance for MSMEs to thrive in the digital era. This research adopts a descriptive qualitative approach using purposive area sampling, focusing on Surabaya, an industrial city supported by the government for MSMEs. The goal is to understand the application of IoT in improving quality and process control in Surabaya MSMEs. This research method provides in-depth insights into the observed phenomena aligned with the objectives set. Awareness and adoption of IoT in MSMEs are low due to constraints such as technological understanding, costs, data security, and lack of perceived benefits. Barriers include limited technical knowledge, high costs, and data security concerns. Solutions include enhancing technological understanding, integrating ERP, and utilizing IoT-based quality control systems. MSMEs can improve their efficiency, quality, and competitiveness with the right strategy. Implementing IoT technology can enhance MSMEs' quality, process control, operational efficiency, and competitiveness. MSMEs are advised to carefully plan and implement IoT solutions, considering their needs and potential benefits, and collaborate with experienced technology solution providers to address technical and operational challenges.

Developing and testing an integrated patient mHealth and provider dashboard application system for type 2 diabetes management among Medicaid-enrolled pregnant individuals based on a user-centered approach: Mixed-methods study.

A tailored and integrated technology solution (patient mHealth application and provider dashboard) can provide a 360° view of Medicaid-enrolled patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) during pregnancy that could improve health outcomes and address health inequities. To develop a set of user specifications for the mHealth and dashboard applications, develop prototypes based on user needs, and collect initial impressions of the prototypes to subsequently develop refined tools that are ready for deployment. Study activities followed a double-diamond framework with a participatory design mindset. Activities were divided into two phases focused on a qualitative inquiry about participant needs and values (phase 1) and design, development, and usability testing of low and high-fidelity prototypes (phase 2). We identified themes that exemplified pregnancy experience among Medicaid-enrolled individuals with T2D. Patients (n = 7) and providers (n = 7) expressed a core set of expectations for the mHealth and dashboard applications. Participants provided feedback to improve the mHealth and dashboard. For both applications, participants reported scores for the NASA Task load Survey (TLX) that were in the 20th percentile of national TLX scores. Digital health tools have the ability to transform health care among Medicaid-enrolled patients with T2D during pregnancy, with the goal of managing their blood glucose levels, which is a precursor to experiencing a successful pregnancy and birth. Distilling patient and provider needs and preferences-then using them, along with prior studies and theory, to develop applications-holds great potential in tackling complicated health care issues.

Collaboration in Value Constellations for Sustainable Production: The Perspective of Small Technology Solution Providers

The rapid ongoing digital transformation creates new opportunities to generate value but also challenges companies in the manufacturing industry to adapt to the recent changes. Moreover, committing to sustainability is essential to maintain competitive advantages, build a more resilient company, and manage increasing societal demands and regulations. Referred to as a “twin transition”, the digital transformation can positively impact firms’ commitments to environmental sustainability. This paper explores challenges that small technology solution providers face on their path toward developing sustainable production solutions for their manufacturing customers. An empirical study was conducted in an industrial cluster of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) providing innovative, tailor-made production technology solutions to manufacturing companies. As a result, a collaborative process model was suggested for such SMEs to overcome internal and external barriers to obtaining sustainability, thus better supporting the manufacturing companies, i.e., their customers, to strive towards more sustainable production.

Research on Innovative Business Plan. Smart Cattle Farming Using Artificial Intelligent Robotic Process Automation

Integrating livestock management with the required devices and sensors is now seen as a critical factor in the agricultural sector’s long-term success. The findings revealed that the agricultural business sector is open to implementing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions, so the aim of this paper is to determine how advantageous it is for Romanian farmers to invest in a project that employs smart cattle farming methods that incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and the Internet of Things (IOT). An unstructured interview was used to gather empirical evidence during a focus group meeting. Analyzing the selected primary performance metrics, it was projected that the farm’s profitability would increase by 19 percent, productivity would increase by 21 percent, and the farm’s environmental impact would decrease by 22 percent. Automation and remote work would help minimize the farm’s worker burden while also making control panels, decision-making files, and data analysis more available. In order for the domain to be as prosperous as possible, farmers must be made aware of the benefits of using these emerging technologies for closing the gap between farmers and Information Technology (IT) solution providers, and this can be accomplished through continuous training for both farmers and their technology vendors.

Industry 4.0 Adoption in Manufacturing Industries Using Technology-Organization-Environment Framework

This paper investigated the determinant factors affecting the Industry 4.0 ecosystem needed for the digitization and automation of manufacturing industries. The 4th industrial revolution implements a value chain by interfacing internet of things devices and robotics, data processing in the cloud using artificial intelligence-based analytics. The study was conducted in Pune, India, a manufacturing and IT services hub. It sought to identify Industry 4.0 facilitators and inhibitors by framing empirical data collected from 320 manufacturing facilities and analyzed using PLS-SEM within a model based on technology-organization-environment (TOE) theory and motivation-threat-ability (MTA) theory. The results confirmed that technology competence, organization scope, consumer readiness, competitive pressure, trading partners' readiness, and governance practices are the facilitators, whereas organization resistance inhibits Industry 4.0 adoption intentions. The outcome of this study shall provide guidelines to manufacturing industries management as well as technology solution providers.

Exploring digital innovation in the production process: A suggested framework for automation technology solution providers

The advances in digital technologies enable organisations to develop new digital products and services, new business processes, and novel business models. Innovative digital solutions and business concepts are changing the environment of traditional production management systems. This paper aims to explore value constellations where small automation solution providers contribute to improving their customers’ production systems. An empirical study is conducted to outline the digital transformation value constellation and possible created values for both automation technology solution providers and manufacturing industries. The paper presents different approaches to how automation solution providers contribute to innovative customised digital transformation in manufacturing firms.

Small Automation Technology Solution Providers: Facilitators for Sustainable Manufacturing

Emerging technologies for smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 require investments in technologies and competence for the manufacturing firm to stay in business. While upgrading the installed base is necessary to meet the future requirements, such investments may come with challenging sustainability dichotomies that calls for innovative solutions. This paper presents an investigation of small automation technology solution providers enabling advanced upgrading of their customers’ production systems. Upgrading existing manufacturing technology could contribute to efficient resource management, addressing 10R processes (i.e. Refuse, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish, Remanufacture, Repurpose, Recycle, and Recover), as well as enhanced resilience for the manufacturing company.

Knowledge-based systems for the Configure Price Quote (CPQ) process – A case study in the IT solution business

Software systems for the Configure Price Quote (CPQ) process of complex product portfolios have emerged in the sales function of companies recently. A flexible quote of complex products, in particular for a Business-to-Business (B2B) customer requires a wide variability of product features and configurations, along with the ability to deliver competitive quotes in short time. The CPQ system aims to reduce the process time, to increase the process quality by integrating information and data stored in several enterprise systems with codified explicit and implicit knowledge from individuals. As in most of the knowledge management systems, the openness of the knowledge holders to share and codify their individual knowledge is a critical success factor. In this case study, we look at the CPQ system implementation of a multinational Information Technology (IT) solution provider from a process perspective and with regard to both the technical and organizational challenges in a holistic approach. The article starts with an introduction to CPQ systems based on works from the Knowledge Management (KM) domain. After outlining our research methodology, we present the case together with a generalization of the CPQ implementation process. Our findings from the investigated scenario indicate positive influence of 1) the internal promotion of CPQ systems as technology innovation for motivating expert knowledge holders to collaborate; 2) an active preparation of the organizational environment for the upcoming changes; and 3) a hybrid agile implementation process.

Experience report: implementing requirement traceability throughout the software development life cycle

AbstractThe developed traceability model is essential in helping project members, project managers and customers, all understand the product at all stages of the software development life cycle and maintain the integrity of the design information. Utilizing a well designed development environment and an environment support team is vital in maintaining the requirement traceability. With the requirement traceability, the customers' requirement status can be monitored and the relationships among requirements, design decisions, and code can be accessed to reuse already developed products or analyze the change impacts, which in turn benefits companies by lowering the development and maintenance cost. This paper describes how requirement traceability is supported in an information technology solution provider company, with the improvement of integrated tool infrastructure, the transformation of the tool infrastructure, and the challenges that were faced during the transformation. Throughout this improvement project, not only the tools and their capabilities were looked into but also the company culture and the already acquired know‐how in using many infrastructure tools such as Enterprise Project Management, JIRA, Team Foundation Server, Quality Center, Enterprise Architect, SVN, and Eclipse.

Continuance of protective security behavior: A longitudinal study

Previous research has established continuance models that explain and predict an individual's behaviors when engaged with hedonic or functional systems, or with other environments that provide productivity-enhancing outcomes. However, within the context of information security, these models are not applicable and fail to accurately assess the circumstances in which an individual engages in protective security behaviors beyond an initial adoption. This research addresses this gap and establishes a model for explaining an individual's continued engagement in protective security behaviors, which is a significant problem in securing enterprise information resources. Within this model, protection motivation theory (PMT) is considered an underlying theoretical motivation for continuance intention using constructs such as perceived threat severity, perceived threat susceptibility, self-efficacy, and response efficacy as direct antecedents of behavioral intents and indirect predictors of continuance behavior. Furthermore, the introduction of perceived extraneous circumstances is used to reconcile the “acceptance–discontinuance anomaly.” A novel research methodology for measuring actual security behavior continuance was developed for this investigation. Experimental results indicate support for all of the proposed relationships, with the exception of response efficacy—continuance intent. Nearly half of the variance in the dependent variable, continuance behavior, was explained by the model. This is the first comprehensive empirical investigation of protective security behavior continuance intention. The findings have practical implications for security administrators and security technology solution providers, and they have theoretical ramifications in the area of behavioral information security and protection motivation theory.

Food Product Tracing Technology Capabilities and Interoperability

Despite the best efforts of food safety and food defense professionals, contaminated food continues to enter the food supply. It is imperative that contaminated food be removed from the supply chain as quickly as possible to protect public health and stabilize markets. To solve this problem, scores of technology companies purport to have the most effective, economical product tracing system. This study sought to compare and contrast the effectiveness of these systems at analyzing product tracing information to identify the contaminated ingredient and likely source, as well as distribution of the product. It also determined if these systems can work together to better secure the food supply (their interoperability). Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) hypothesized that when technology providers are given a full set of supply-chain data, even for a multi-ingredient product, their systems will generally be able to trace a contaminated product forward and backward through the supply chain. However, when provided with only a portion of supply-chain data, even for a product with a straightforward supply chain, it was expected that interoperability of the systems will be lacking and that there will be difficulty collaborating to identify sources and/or recipients of potentially contaminated product. IFT provided supply-chain data for one complex product to 9 product tracing technology providers, and then compared and contrasted their effectiveness at analyzing product tracing information to identify the contaminated ingredient and likely source, as well as distribution of the product. A vertically integrated foodservice restaurant agreed to work with IFT to secure data from its supply chain for both a multi-ingredient and a simpler product. Potential multi-ingredient products considered included canned tuna, supreme pizza, and beef tacos. IFT ensured that all supply-chain data collected did not include any proprietary information or information that would otherwise identify the supply-chain partner who provided the information prior to sharing this information with product tracing technology providers. The 9 traceability solution providers who agreed to participate in this project have their systems deployed in a wide range of sectors within the food industry including, but not limited to, livestock, dairy, produce, fruits, seafood, meat, and pork; as well as in pharmaceutical, automotive, retail, and other industries. Some have also been implemented across the globe including Canada, China, USA, Norway, and the EU, among others. This broad commercial use ensures that the findings of this work are applicable to a broad spectrum of the food system. Six of the 9 participants successfully completed the data entry phase of this test. To verify successful data entry for these 6, a demo or screenshots of the data set from each system's user interface was requested. Only 4 of the 6 were able to provide us with this evidence for verification. Of the 6 that completed data entry and moved on to the scenarios phase of the test, 5 were able to provide us with the responses to the scenarios. Time metrics were useful for evaluating the scalability and usability of each technology. Scalability was derived from the time it took to enter the nonstandardized data set into the system (ranges from 7 to 11 d). Usability was derived from the time it took to query the scenarios and provide the results (from a few hours to a week). The time was measured in days it took for the participants to respond after we supplied them all the information they would need to successfully execute each test/scenario. Two of the technology solution providers successfully implemented and participated in a proof-of-concept interoperable framework during Year 2 of this study. While not required, they also demonstrated this interoperability capability on the FSMA-mandated food product tracing pilots for the U.S. FDA. This has significant real-world impact since the demonstration of interoperability enables U.S. FDA to obtain evidence on the importance and impact of data-sharing moving forward. Another real-world accomplishment is the modification or upgrade of commercial technology solutions to enhance or implement interoperability. As these systems get deployed by clients in the food industry, interoperability will no longer be an afterthought but will be built into their traceability systems. In turn, industry and regulators will better understand the capabilities of the currently available technologies, and the technology provider community will identify ways in which their systems may be further developed to increase interoperability and utility.

Leveraging supplier capabilities: The role of locus of capability deployment

AbstractThis study adds to the resource‐based view by studying how client firms may gain performance benefits from supplier IT capabilities in market‐based arrangements where the supplier's IT capabilities are readily available to multiple client firms. I argue that the locus of supplier capability deployment, i.e. whether supplier capabilities are deployed at the client (in‐sourcing) or supplier (outsourcing), has implications for client firm performance. The findings show that in‐sourcing leads to complementary effects between supplier IT capabilities and client operational capabilities. In contrast, clients with weaker operational capabilities benefit from outsourcing the respective activity to the supplier, and may even be able to reduce their capability disadvantage through outsourcing. The data on 964 U.S. credit unions contracting with 22 technology solution providers is archival. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Demand Side Response: Challenges & Opportunities for providing equilibrium in the UK electricity market

UK Electricity thermal generation is creaking at the seams. A large amount of coal and oil fuelled generation has and is retiring due to age and environmental legislation including the European Union Large Combustion Plant Directive. Furthermore, challenging economics for gas fuelled generation has resulted in few new power plants being built and in fact many being mothballed, including units only two years old, until the business case for their operation becomes more favourable. The resulting decline in capacity and generator availability has lead to very tight capacity margins – the difference between electricity supply and demand levels, which can make National Grid's role – the UK's Transmission System Operator (TSO) – in matching generation and demand quite challenging. Indeed, spare electricity power production in the electricity system is predicted to fall to only 2% by 2015, increasing the risks of blackouts across the UK, should an unforeseen operational issue arise or the UK experience a cold winter. Demand Side Response (DSR) could provide an important contribution to managing security of supply and cutting energy consumption. It offers a cheaper and greener alternative to building new generating capacity and could make a meaningful contribution towards security of supply. This study provides a brief overview of the recent developments on the growing DSR market in the UK. Fast acting, clean flexible load is a unique asset which currently is virtually untapped in the UK. With the emerging regulatory support in the UK and across Europe, this is a valuable commodity which can potentially meet the pressures of peak electricity demand while giving businesses security over their power supply needs. The role of the Demand Response Aggregator (DRA) using an Automated Demand Response (ADR) platform to draw on flexible loads across many sites in a coordinated and automated fashion has been discussed. Furthermore, the relationship between the DRA and ADR Technology Solution Provider in establishing a new business to provide aggregated demand response (load adjustment; down and up) as a service to distribution network operators, TSOs, and wholesale Traders have been explored.

Analytics of the Impact of User Involvement in the Innovation Process and its Outcomes. Case Study: Media-Enhanced Learning (MEL) Service

Abstract This study provides insights into the linkages between the intensity and impact of user involvement in innovation activities when developing new services for the education sector. The paper examines the innovation process of a media enhanced learning service (MEL), which is designed to support the introduction of media components into the study of various subjects in elementary school. It allows for learning inside and outside of the classroom using mobile phones and computers. The participation of technology solution provider, city officials and school (both teachers and students), the content and technology changes made to the service as well as the contributions to the usage of the service are explored with multiple methods of data-collection. The resulting analytics are presented visually in the form of graphs, charts and timelines for the innovation activities. Our results indicate that user involvement has a significant impact on the innovation process and its outcomes.

Learning From Supply-Side Agents: The Impact Of Technology Solution Providers' Experiential Diversity On Clients' Innovation Adoption

We examine how firms use the experiential learning of certain supply-side agents— technology solution providers—to overcome technological, organizational, and market-related knowledge hurdles to adopting innovations. Studying the electronic banking innovations of 4,293 credit unions that had relationships with 55 such providers during 2000–04, we found that their technical experiential diversity positively influences client innovation adoption, although benefits taper off at high levels of diversity. A provider's organizational experiential diversity, however, exhibits a U-shaped relationship with client innovation adoption. Also, the conditioning effect of a client firm's marketing intensity on the diversity-innovation link varies with the type of technology solution provider experience.

Partnering with technology to reduce OB losses

Following a catastrophic birth injury that occurred as a result of deviations from the expected standards of care, the OB Risk Reduction Task Force of a healthcare network identified criteria to transform care at the bedside from theory to practice: 1) protocol-driven, real-time alerts to help healthcare providers meet clinical guidelines; and 2) the ability to produce reliable data to monitor and measure adherence to accepted standards of care. The group selected a technological solution to achieve that end. This case study illustrates how a strong partnership model between healthcare and technology solution providers can achieve much when both parties are focused on the same goals of performance improvement and active risk reduction.